I've got a half marathon coming up in a few weeks and I am worried that I will not set a new personal best. For some reason I don't feel as fit as I did when I ran my last half marathon even though my training times are still similar to what I did last time, I've just got it into my head that I won't set a new personal best and it is bothering me. I know it is not always possible to set a new personal best at every race I do but how do I get these negative thoughts out of my head?

You definitely can't get a PB all the time. As athletes we get injured and ill and other things like work get in the way.

The key to it all first and foremost is consistency. If you've strung a few weeks of solid training together, there's no reason to not believe you can get one. Secondly, how often do you race a half mara? If it's less frequently than other distances you'll expect a PB more than not - I race a HM less than once a year and I'm always after a PB when I run one. However, I run 5k 10+ times a year so my expectations are more limited in that respect.

PB or not, a HM is dead fun when your early target splits are conservative and you feel comfortable halfway. You slowly start to chew up the people that stormed away at the start.

(Original post by MikePL)
I've got a half marathon coming up in a few weeks and I am worried that I will not set a new personal best. For some reason I don't feel as fit as I did when I ran my last half marathon even though my training times are still similar to what I did last time, I've just got it into my head that I won't set a new personal best and it is bothering me. I know it is not always possible to set a new personal best at every race I do but how do I get these negative thoughts out of my head?

Stop listening to yourself! Will you do your best on the day? As long as you can say "I couldn't do any better today" you can't grumble with that!

(Original post by rockrunride)
You definitely can't get a PB all the time. As athletes we get injured and ill and other things like work get in the way.

The key to it all first and foremost is consistency. If you've strung a few weeks of solid training together, there's no reason to not believe you can get one. Secondly, how often do you race a half mara? If it's less frequently than other distances you'll expect a PB more than not - I race a HM less than once a year and I'm always after a PB when I run one. However, I run 5k 10+ times a year so my expectations are more limited in that respect.

PB or not, a HM is dead fun when your early target splits are conservative and you feel comfortable halfway. You slowly start to chew up the people that stormed away at the start.

This is actually only my second half marathon I'll be running. I ran one last March and got 1 hour 36 minutes, however my training for this one has been interrupted due to being ill for ages and not being able to run. It's only the last few weeks I've been out running again and whilst I felt slower my training times were similar to what I was doing last year.